Flojet Water Pump question

cbrhunter · 05-31-2016, 04:31 PM

Hi Folks, I recently purchased a 2015 Keystone Passport 2920 BH. We took it out on it's maiden voyage this past holiday weekend and I had an issue with the water pump that I wanted to run past you guys and get your feedback.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and got the RV set-up up at our spot (no hook-ups). I have two brand new 24DC that are running in parallel. We ran several lights, the furnance and the stereo for a bit over the course of the afternoon and into the evening (3pm to 9pm or so). That night at some point I heard the water pump kick on although no one was up using the toilet or faucets. The next morning after running some water the pump ran and wouldn't shut off until I killed it the power at the panel. After this happened a couple of times and the duration of the pump running increased I pulled out the Flojet paperwork and looked at the troubleshooting section and under the "Pump Fails to Turn Off After All Fixtures are Closed" I see 'Insufficient voltage to pump (low voltage)'. I checked the batteries with my voltmeter but I honestly don't remember exactly what it was (somewhere around 60% guestimating?) and the panel was reading 2/3rd for the Battery. I fired up the generator and when running on shore power the constant running stopped.

After I got home and was able to put a complete charge on the batteries I put one on the unit, put some water in the tank and ran various faucets and the toilet one at a time. The water ran great and system charged just fine and the pump shut off almost immediately after closing each one.

So here are my questions. It seems that the pump is a bit sensitive to the low voltage condition as it kicked on for what I assume to be the low voltage condition with still a significant amount of power in the batteries. Does this sound right? If so, is there a workaround of sorts - maybe charging the batteries with my deep cycle charger off the generator when it's running to get them back up to a complete charge? By the way no other electrical issues only the pump issue. Sorry for the long winded post but appreciate any help or insight

GMcKenzie · 06-01-2016, 05:09 AM

Had the same problem. Fixed it by tossing the pump and putting in a Shurflo one. Flojet pumps are cheap junk IMHO.

cbrhunter · 06-01-2016, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMcKenzie

Had the same problem. Fixed it by tossing the pump and putting in a Shurflo one. Flojet pumps are cheap junk IMHO.

Good to know! glad to know it wasn't me loosing my mind. I'll swap the pump the out. Thanks

jsmith948 · 06-01-2016, 06:58 AM

You mention having two 24DC in parallel. Do you mean two group 24?
We have a flo-jet and have had no issues. I would upgrade to batteries with larger amp/hr capacity. The small, group 24 batteries might be discharging rapidly; causing the low voltage to your pump. If you do a lot of dry camping, try upgrading to two golf cart batteries in series. JMHO - FWIW.

Lee · 06-01-2016, 07:30 AM

Hi,

What you have described is not a water pump problem and a normal condition when the battery voltage starts to drop off.

On the end of the Flojet pump is a mechanical pressure switch set to ~ 50lbs. This switch is what supplies the 12v to the pump. Here is an example of the pump sequence.

Pump is first turned on and water flows until the pressure in the line gets to ~ 50lbs then the pressure switch opens and removes 12v from the pump.

The pump will not turn back on until the pressure drops below ~50lbs. As in say you flush the toilet. The toilet water valve opens, water flows thus dropping the water pressure, pressure switch on the pump senses this and closes supplying 12v to the pump and pump starts running.

So, this is what I believe happened to you: During the night the water pressure bleed down slowly. When the line pressure dropped below ~50lbs the pressure switch sensed this and supplied voltage to the pump,..... but because the batteries were weak, .... the pump could not run strong enough to get the water pressure back above the 50lb pressure level so,.... it will run, and run, and run, and....

Hope this makes sense.....

Though the Flojet pump may not be the best pumps on the market, yours is working correctly.

denverpilot · 06-01-2016, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee

Hi,

What you have described is not a water pump problem and a normal condition when the battery voltage starts to drop off.

On the end of the Flojet pump is a mechanical pressure switch set to ~ 50lbs. This switch is what supplies the 12v to the pump. Here is an example of the pump sequence.

Pump is first turned on and water flows until the pressure in the line gets to ~ 50lbs then the pressure switch opens and removes 12v from the pump.

The pump will not turn back on until the pressure drops below ~50lbs. As in say you flush the toilet. The toilet water valve opens, water flows thus dropping the water pressure, pressure switch on the pump senses this and closes supplying 12v to the pump and pump starts running.

So, this is what I believe happened to you: During the night the water pressure bleed down slowly. When the line pressure dropped below ~50lbs the pressure switch sensed this and supplied voltage to the pump,..... but because the batteries were weak, .... the pump could not run strong enough to get the water pressure back above the 50lb pressure level so,.... it will run, and run, and run, and....

Hope this makes sense.....

Though the Flojet pump may not be the best pumps on the market, yours is working correctly.

As a systems guy for a living I love your description but I do need to point out one thing: There's no reason at all for a closed system to have "pressure bleed down slowly".

If it's doing that, something is leaking and needs to be found and fixed. Hopefully it isn't leaking somewhere hard to see / find and doing damage.

cbrhunter · 06-01-2016, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsmith948

You mention having two 24DC in parallel. Do you mean two group 24?

Hi, 24DCMJ is what is on my batteries. Not sure if that helps - got them from O'Reilly. Thanks

Festus2 · 06-01-2016, 05:09 PM

The "24" refers to the battery group `in the 12v category- with 24 being the "smallest" of several groups. If you had been running the furnace, lights, and stereo in addition to other current draws which you may not be aware of (including the pump), the two 24's that you have may not be enough to keep up to your demands.

I wouldn't replace the pump just yet as it seems to be a low voltage/current issue rather than a problem with the pump. The pump seems to be working fine except when you are just relying on the batteries.

If you dry camp a fair amount of the time, I'd look into replacing the batteries with 2 6volts or move up to a higher group ---- 27 or 31 for the 12v's.

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